Information for Press Contacts

About Liam Kennedy

Liam Kennedy is CEO of ImageBEAM Inc. ImageBEAM has been producing live streaming events for its clients since 2003. Clients include The Planetary Society. One of the largest live streaming events was the Transit of Venus from Mt Wilson streamed using NASA’s contract with Akamia which reached over 600,000 viewers worldwide. Liam is considered an expert in the live streaming field and has provided consulting support to many other organizations.

Liam is also the inventor of the ISS-Above, a single board computer device (a Raspberry Pi) that presents information about the ISS orbit and when the ISS will be. This device has been shipped to more than 1.000 locations around the world. The ISS-Above was featured as a Poster presentation at the 2015 ISS R&D Conference “ISS-Above: Using a Single Board Computer to Raise Public Awareness of the Space Station”

Throughout a career in programming and live video streaming/video production, Liam has been passionate about astronomy and the perspective it gives humankind on our place in the Universe and how beautiful and fragile our Earth is. Previously President of the Orange County Astronomers, a Griffith Observatory Planetarium Lecturer and a NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador, today Liam focuses on bringing the ISS into people’s daily lives, through public outreach, deployment of the ISS-Above into homes, schools and public spaces and spearheading projects to enhance our view of space exploration and of ourselves.

Liam Kennedyliam@issabove.com(o) 949 387 4862, (m) 949 400 3356

About ISS-ABOVE

The ISS-ABOVE is an electronic device that brings the Space Station to your TV. With informational screens and live views of Earth from external cameras, you’ll discover:

The Space Station passes you by 5-8 times every single day

When and where to look to see the Space Station - it's visible when the solar panels catch the light, so around dusk and dawn. The ISS-Above tells you when and where to look, both by flashing like crazy and displaying information about the pass on the info screens

Who’s up there right now - each Expedition typically had a crew of 6 and lasts 6 months. Three astronauts change out every 3 months so there's continuity for the crew

What the orbit of the Space Station looks like and where it is right now - at a glance you can see the ISS image on the world map. As the ISS always travels from West to East, you'll be able to see when it is in darkness, when in daylight and what part of the Earth it's over right now

Lots of stats and data about the Space Station

What the astronauts see when they look out of the cupola - the ISS-ABOVE streams live video from the external cameras on the Space Station whenever the ISS is in sunlight. That's 46 minutes out of every 92.

The International Space Station (ISS) is the only human-habitable environment off the surface of the Earth. It's also one of the biggest single human scientific achievements.

Crew missions started in 2000 conducting experiments, making observations and adding to our knowledge about how to survive in space and contributing to all kinds of scientific breakthroughs in many areas.

ISS is larger than a six-bedroom house

ISS has an internal pressurized volume equal to a Boeing 747

The solar array wingspan 240 ft, is longer than a Boeing 777

Fifty-two computers control the systems on the ISS

More than 115 space flights were conducted during the station’s construction

More than 100 telephone-booth-sized rack facilities operate the spacecraft systems and research experiments

The ISS weighs almost one million pounds - equivalent of more than 320 automobiles

The ISS is almost the length of a football field including the end zones

3.3 million lines of software code on the ground support 1.8 million lines of flight software code.

By request of The Planetary Society, the ISS-ABOVE will also track the Lightsail when it launches in May 2016.

The mission of ISS-Above

The mission of ISS-ABOVE is to inspire wonder for human spaceflight. As the most ambitious scientific project ever undertaken, the ISS represents the pinnacle of human achievement in space and is our stepping stone to Mars. The ISS is the vehicle for inspiring wonder - the ISS-ABOVE reminds us when it's in our skies, when we can see it, who's on board and what Earth looks like from up there.

For members of the public wanting to know more about space explortion, students involved in STEM studies (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) and considering careers in the industry, or corporations involved in space projects or wanting to to publicn outreach, the ISS-AOVE is a source of informationm, inspiration and wonder, sparking conversations about our human achievements and destiny, the possibility of worldwide collaboration, our future in space and our home environment.